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Page 1 of 3 <br /> <br /> <br />BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />COUNTY OF KITTITAS <br />STATE OF WASHINGTON <br /> <br />ORDINANCE NO.: 2017-________ <br /> <br />AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A NEW SECTION OF THE KITTITAS COUNTY CODE <br />TO INCREASE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING TRANSPARENCY <br /> WHEREAS: The Open Public Meetings Act was passed by citizen initiative in 1971; and <br /> WHEREAS: The legislative declaration of the Open Public Meetings Act (RCW 42.30.010) <br />states in part: <br />The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which <br />serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public <br />servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is <br />not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that <br />they may retain control over the instruments they have created.; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS: Taxpayers are entitled to remain informed about collective bargaining <br />negotiations; and <br /> <br /> <br />WHEREAS: Public observance of collective bargaining contract negotiations will not <br />preclude bargaining representatives of both sides from meeting separately <br />and privately to discuss negotiating tactics, goals, and methods; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS: Collective bargaining negotiations that are open to the public does not mean <br />that the public will participate in the negotiations; and <br /> <br /> <br />WHEREAS: Collective bargaining is defined in statute (RCW 41.56.030 (4)) as: <br />…the performance of the mutual obligations of the public employer and the <br />exclusive bargaining representative to meet at reasonable times, to confer <br />and negotiate in good faith, and to execute a written agreement with <br />respect to grievance procedures and collective negotiations on personnel <br />matters, including wages, hours and working conditions, which may be <br />peculiar to an appropriate bargaining unit of such public employer, except <br />that by such obligation neither party shall be compelled to agree to a <br />proposal or be required to make a concession unless otherwise provided in <br />this chapter; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS: Making collective bargaining contract negotiations transparent does not <br />conflict with and is not preempted by state law; and <br /> <br />